Prior to the present invention, there has been no uniform procedure for destroying laboratory animals following completion of the tests or experiments involving such animals. The industry does not have an established protocol for destruction of the animals. In some instances, the care with which the technicians handle the animals during their destruction is less than humane and it has been found desirable to provide a method and system which facilitates the disposal of the animals in a humane and painless fashion while at the same time avoiding excessive costs or the need for monitoring the disposal by highly paid professionals.
A commonly-used procedure is to provide a container into which a block of frozen solid CO.sub.2 (dry ice) is placed. As the CO.sub.2 sublimes, the container fills with gaseous CO.sub.2, and when the animals are dumped into the container, they suffocate, and the animals are then cremated or otherwise disposed of. Such a procedure does not have controls to assure proper concentration of CO.sub.2 to insure a painless death, and the animals may come into contact with the frozen CO.sub.2. In other laboratories, the animals are simply guillotined. A more humane procedure which is used for larger animals is to use a lethal injection, which requires individual handling of the animals by a skilled technician.
With the foregoing in mind, the present invention provides a method and system for destroying laboratory animals in a humane and painless fashion which may be operated by relatively unskilled technicians routinely with small risk for improper handling of the animals.